Rokukai (Dr) Lonnie Smith had settled into funky lite fuzak by the end of the seventies, trying his best to appeal to the jazz buying masses. Smith's appeal is his tasteful, elegant delivery of properly chosen and, most often, composed material. As with most of his output from the mid 1970's The Doctor's keyboards never dominate this session. It reads as super chill starsky and hutch type lounge music. While performed expertly, it can seem a little stale on the palettes of some. Sax Solos on "Bobbitt's Other Song" and "For the Love of It" add energy to this almost lost jazzfunkssoul gem/typical late seventies record riding the waves generated by Herbie Hancock and a host of others. The good news for the weary is there's no dabbling in disco, as Lonnie does on his next, and last record for sixteen years. The cover art adds to the cheese factor.

Rokukai This one is sure to make every purist cringe.

Dr. Lonnie Smith's 1976 Groove Merchant release "Keep on Lovin'" sees Smith abandon the bop-based souljazz and funk stylings he'd been perfecting since the late 1960's. Gone is the B-3, in comes Fender Rhodes.

By all accounts, this is a mainstream R and B record that draws more of it's inspiration from "Innervisions" than it does "Birth of the Cool". "Keep on Lovin'" is a nice up-tempo groover that showcases Smith's mediocre voice. "Sizzle Stick" is a smoking souljazz-funk extraveganza, a Tour de Force of soul, funk, and jazz. Easily my favorite song on the disc, and a shining example of dancefloor jazz at it's best. This one sounds like an outtake from Grover Washington Jr's "Mister Magic" sessions. "Lean Meat" completes side one, and is where Van McCoy ripped of his idea for "The Hustle".

"What I Want" is a slow ballad with vocals, "Filet-O-Sole" is another excellent dancefloor instrumental, and the closer, "No Tears Tomorrow" doesn't deviate from the plan.

In all, this is a nice package for people who like their jazz with heavy doses of R and B, even light disco. It resembles a high quality CTI/Kudu production in every respect and makes a nice addition to Smith's catalogue.

js When “Afro-Desia” opens you are likely to think you have one of those typical mid-70s soul funk jazz sides, but don’t take the needle off the record because this one is about wander into some fairly strange and interesting territory. Side one starts with an almost disco leaning bass line and borderline campy vocals, but after Joe Lovano’s fiery sax solo, Lonnie Smith brings on the weird synthesizers and the song goes into a strange percussion driven psychedelia before fading out. The rest of side one gets even more out there as “Spirits Free” presents an angular funky bass line topped with phasing distorted keyboards ala Miles Davis, as well as another great solo from Lovano. Even though he is surrounded by heavyweights like Lonnie Smith and George Benson, Joe emerges as the real star on this album. As this song continues, Smith begins to play bizarre melodies on the synthesizer backed by his distorted organ invoking the spirit of Sun Ra and early Funkadelic in the process. Overall this side is reminiscent of other classic psychedelic 70s jazz albums like Les McCann’s “Invitation to Openess”, Buddy Terry’s “Pure Dynamite” or countless spin-offs from Herbie’s Sextet.

Side two enters into slightly more traditional territory with a fast fusion jazz samba followed by an up-tempo cover of “Impressions” (renamed) and closing with a classic hard bop soul jazz groove. Although a little more traditional than side one, this side still carries the bohemian vibe of the “hippie-jazz” era where everyone picks up a shaker or conga when they aren’t soloing and there is plenty of incense, sandals and dashikis to go around for everyone. With one foot in the world of psychedelic fusion and the other in the more aggressive end of the 70s soul jazz groove, “Afro-Desia” is a great very 70s flavored funky jazz record.

Sean Trane One of the Doctor’s more respected release, Think! is seen by some as the companion album to Turning Point ( I kind of beg to differ, though), even if the horns lack the prestige of its sibling. Indeed, if Newman is no Priester or Maupin, but he’s no slouch either. As for the rest of the band, you’ll find once more guitarist Sparks, trumpeter Morgan, and of course, the Doctor himself (although the “Dr” thing came sometimes later) alongside a bunch of very meriting lesser-knowns. Recorded in one session in the NY dog days of summer of 68, the album is one of those over-rated icons that abound the Blue Note later-60’s catalogue.

Opening on the South-African master Masekela, Son of Ice Bag is lengthy and energetic jazz that has everything to get you grooving, including over-mixed drums (the Van Gelder remaster-remix?) and cool horns to boot. Once the following slower-starting Call Of The Wild awakes, the two congas and the timbales are driving you quickly insane with an extra-rapid rhythm and the remaining 11 minutes are used for soloing and jamming. A nice and smooth rendition of Aretha’s Think! track can bring a smile upon first discovery, but it won’t survive well repeated listens, unlike the trad Three Blind Mice piece, which seems to have a purpose other than just filling time and tapes in recording studios. The closing Slouchin’ is probably wisely titled, because we’re in a gentle jazz, where the over-mixed drums returns, but again the groove is there and the gentle instrumental interplay gets a gentle ray of the spotlight, but it’s really nothing to write home bout.

Normally, this 60’s & 70’s instrumental JR/F nuthead should love this kind of music, but something is simply lacking: real energy, a sense of urgency, a lack of purpose, a will to challenge, instead of just please. Don’t get me wrong, this is pleasant enough to even have non-jazz listeners enjoying it, but for the demanding jazz buff, it’s just too lightweight, like most (all?) of the Doctor’s vinyl prescriptions.

Sean Trane Recorded over one gig in Harlem in August 69, you’d have a hard time believing that Move Your Hand was indeed recorded live, not least because one can’t hear much (if any at all) of the audience. That night’s line did not feature many big stars like on some of the Doctor’s studio album: you’d have to be pretty well versed in second division sidemen (no disrespect whatsoever to them, though), as you won’t find anyone that participated on Turning Point or Think! The album is a rather short set made from two well-known covers and two Smith compositions.

The two covers are generally smooth renditions ala Benson or Deodato (although the latter had a bite that was unequalled), but both the Lieber-Stoller-penned Charlie Brown and the Donovan Sunshine Superman are very enjoyable on first discovery, they don’t really survive freshly repeated listens, as they sound a bit like lounge or piano bar (read organ-bar, of course) pieces, because the jazzy arrangements are just too gentle and lack energy and both had overstayed their welcome halfway through. As for the two Smith pieces, Layin’ In The Cut is also a gentle piece, but Smith’s organ finally gets a little space to expand and the two hornmen enhance his playing with excellent tense lines that adds a bit of drama. As for the more energetic title track, Smith is throwing a few verses and wails that add a bit to the track’s soul added to Goshay’s congas, to make it the album’s best track.

Thrown n as a bonus track (apparently taken from the same gig) on the CD, the aptly-titled 12-mins Dancing In The Easy Groove is indeed just that, a long groove to allow for lengthy solos, and it actually fits quite well with the rest of the album it was thrown upon. Normally, this 60’s & 70’s instrumental JR/F nuthead should love this kind of music, but something is simply lacking: real energy, a sense of urgency, a lack of purpose, a will to challenge, instead of just please. Just too gentle and with to few substance to it for me, and to be honest, a little too mainstream for the Blue Note label it was released on.